Anne Gates

Former President, MGA Entertainment

Anne Gates has been in global consumer products businesses for over 35 years. She retired as President, MGA Entertainment, which is the largest privately held toy company in the United States with a global reach. Ms. Gates is past Executive Vice President and CFO of The Walt Disney Company’s Consumer Products Division and past Managing Director for Disney Consumer Products Europe and Emerging Markets based in London. She also worked for Pepsi in both the US and Europe, Bear Stearns (VP, Investment Banking), AT&T (Marketing) and Bell Labs (Research).

She is currently on the Kroger Board, serving on the Audit and Governance Committees – she is Chair of the Audit Committee there. She is also the Chair of Tapestry, Inc. Board and serves on the Audit Committee and Governance and Nominations Committee (GNC) – she is Chair of the GNC. She is also a member of the Raymond James Financial Board, where she serves on the Audit Committee and Governance and Nominations Committee (GNC) – she is also Chair of the GNC there.

She also serves on the Boards of Public Media Group SoCal^[1] (Chair of the board), Save the Children, and Salzburg Global^[2] (Chair of the DEI Working Group and the Governance Committee). 

She has served on several other boards, including the Board of Directors for Super RTL (a German entertainment company) and Big Sunday (former Chair of the Board). 

In 2010, Anne Gates was named to the Power List of Britain’s 100 most influential black people. She was named in the top 50 Corporate Board Directors by The Wall Street Journal in 2025.

She received her MS degree from the Engineering School at Columbia University, where she also completed post-graduate work. She has her BA degree in Applied Mathematics from UC Berkeley. She currently serves on Boards associated with those universities.

[1] The largest PBS affiliate in Southern California.

[2] Challenges current and future leaders to shape a better world. Convenes talent across generations, cultures and sectors to inspire new thing and action. Foster lasting networks and partnerships for creative, just and sustainable change. Based in DC and Salzburg, Austria.